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Life-threatening hemolytic-uremic syndrome treated with rituximab in an allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipient

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 39, pages 649–651 (2007)Cite this article

Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) syndromes – the hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura (TTP) – can complicate bone marrow transplantation (BMT). There is no specific treatment. Plasma exchange (PE) has been used to treat TTP/HUS, but the response rate is generally below 50% and the median mortality rate is as high as 79% in the BMT population.1

Rituximab, an anti-CD20 antibody, has been used to treat recurrent TTP,2, 3, 4, 5 but there are no reports of its use in TMA associated with BMT (BMT-TMA) and only one report of its use in HUS.6

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit, Real-Hospital Português, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    M Ostronoff, F Ostronoff, R Calixto, R Florêncio, M Florêncio, M C Domingues, A P Souto Maior, A Sucupira & C Tagliari

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Ostronoff, M., Ostronoff, F., Calixto, R. et al. Life-threatening hemolytic-uremic syndrome treated with rituximab in an allogeneic bone marrow transplant recipient. Bone Marrow Transplant 39, 649–651 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705657

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